How I Tackled the 10 lb Zucchini!

I love this time of year! Not only do I not have the space nor the time required to have a garden, I am fortunate enough to have many friends and family members that do. I love this time of year, because they all have heaps of heaps of produce (that would normally cost me heaps and heaps of money) that they are begging me to take! The other day my best friend Autumn gave birth to a 10 lb zucchini (that I have since named Fred) that she gave to me since I'm currently not able to have one of my own. :P
 Meet Fred!

  While most of the insides were a little to mushy for my taste, I was still able to salvage about half of it. Fred has now turned into this:

Oven Baked Zucchini Fries:

3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
about 1/3 of Fred cut into fry shapes (:P)
1 egg

coated in egg, then dredged in bread crumb and cheese mixture. baked at 425 for about 15 minutes

       2 cup grated that I ended up making Zucchini Spice Bread with. (My first ever bread from scratch!)

Zucchini Spice Bread

½ cup canola oil

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

about 1 ½ cup grated zucchini

350 degrees for about 50 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean)

  It turned out so yummy! And Ryan loved having fresh baked bread when he woke up! (Oh yeah, I was up hours before him this morning.)

  And the rest of Fred now looks like this:

Diced up and in the freezer to be added to various meals in the future!

  Like I said, I am very fortunate to have friends and family that are so happy to share the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor! I like to think that I make up for it by taking the time to turn their hard work into beautiful, healthy food, which I then turn around and share with them!